AI4HF Unites Global Stakeholders to Co‑Create First Trustworthy AI Tool for Heart Failure Care

AI4HF Unites Global Stakeholders to Co‑Create First Trustworthy AI Tool for Heart Failure Care

(IN BRIEF) The EU‑funded AI4HF project is co‑designing, developing and evaluating a trustworthy AI tool to personalise heart failure care. Engaging over 200 stakeholders—including patients, clinicians and administrators—from Europe, South America and Africa, the project has held multiple workshops to identify needs such as enhanced health literacy, tailored lifestyle advice and symptom‑driven intervention guidance. Local Clinical/Patient Working Groups in five global sites have completed two rounds of feedback, underscoring the importance of accommodating each patient’s unique profile and building trust in AI. A third feedback phase is in progress, focusing on user interface, communication benefits and bias mitigation, with results due in Autumn 2025. AI4HF aims to integrate high‑dimensional health data to provide clinicians with precise, timely insights that improve patient outcomes in this prevalent and growing condition.

(PRESS RELEASE) SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, 29-Jul-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — The “Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence for Personalised Risk Assessment” (AI4HF) initiative, under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework, is pioneering the first reliable AI‑driven platform to tailor care for heart failure patients. Over its four‑year lifespan, AI4HF has convened patients, clinicians and diverse stakeholders from Europe, South America and Africa in a sequence of collaborative workshops to shape, build and test this cutting‑edge tool.

Heart failure afflicts more than 64 million people globally and disproportionately affects older adults—impacting over 10 percent of those aged 70 and above and rising to 30 percent in the over‑85 age group.¹ Conventional risk calculators rely on limited variables, but AI4HF harnesses vast datasets—electronic health records, imaging, labs and wearable‑device metrics—to uncover subtle predictors of deterioration and guide truly individualised treatment.

Professor Folkert W. Asselbergs of Amsterdam UMC, AI4HF coordinator and Chair of the ESC Digital Cardiology and AI Committee, explains: “Heart failure’s complexity—its varied causes and evolving symptoms—often stymies early intervention. AI’s ability to integrate and interpret high‑dimensional data empowers clinicians with timely, personalised insights, ultimately improving patient outcomes and alleviating global healthcare burdens.”

Under Work Package 1, led by SHINE 2Europe, AI4HF began by mapping stakeholders—including patients, cardiologists, nurses, administrators and advocacy groups—and then convened an international workshop in month 12 titled “Towards trustworthy AI‑driven tools for personalised treatment of heart failure.” Twenty‑eight representatives identified core needs: boosting health literacy, delivering bespoke lifestyle guidance, early sub‑type diagnosis, enhancing patient engagement and fostering shared decision‑making.

Local Clinical/Patient Working Groups at five sites—Amsterdam/Utrecht (Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain), Brno (Czech Republic), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Lima (Peru)—each comprising six to eight healthcare professionals and an equal number of patients, have completed two rounds of sessions. They emphasized that no “typical” heart failure patient exists and stressed the necessity for the AI tool and care pathways to adapt to individual circumstances. Patients voiced a desire for the system to not only predict hospitalisation or mortality risks but also to interpret symptoms (such as breathlessness or swelling) and recommend optimal interventions with minimal side effects.

Despite growing comfort with mobile technology, both patients and clinicians remain cautious about entrusting AI with health decisions. Crucially, over 200 stakeholders have already contributed their perspectives, praising AI4HF’s inclusive design and recognizing the opportunity to co‑create a tool that truly supports clinical decision‑making and enhances patient empowerment.

A third round of Working Group sessions is now underway. Participants are evaluating the prototype’s user interface, its potential to improve clinician–patient dialogues, and identifying cultural or organisational biases that might affect the model’s fairness and effectiveness. Final insights from this phase are anticipated in Autumn 2025.

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Funding: This project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework.

References

The Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence for Personalised Risk Assessment in Chronic Heart Failure website (AI4HF)

1Latest global data on heart failure

For earlier news item on AI4HF

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SOURCE: European Society of Cardiology (ESC)